


Among Thieves

by Notevenwinded



Category: Iron Man (Comic), Marvel Noir
Genre: Exploring, Iron Man Noir - Freeform, M/M, Treasure Hunting, it's basically an Uncharted AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 03:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6140740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notevenwinded/pseuds/Notevenwinded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tony Stark, famous explorer and treasure hunter, enlists the help of Steve Rogers to find an ancient relic, they have no idea that they will end up discovering the legendary Infinity Gauntlet and will have to fight for it with their life!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Among Thieves

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the #ProjectHappyStark 2016!

It wasn’t often that an interesting score showed up at his door. Sure, he got featured on magazine covers and had people asking for interviews left and right, but his discoveries just weren’t that interesting anymore.

How do you top finding an ancient mask, having your girlfriend turn against you, find out that your father was still alive, fought him, teamed up with a grumpy captain and lived to tell the tale? Too much excitement to last him a lifetime, that’s what Rhodey told him. Perhaps he was right, his heart couldn’t take it anymore, but he craved it. Settling down just wasn’t for him.

That’s why when he saw the first opportunity to jump in another adventure, he didn’t think twice about it. He needed to be quiet about it though, he attracted too much attention lately, so his usual associates just wouldn’t do it this time around. And that was when the Commander walked into his office. Dressed in a dark blue waistcoat, blonde hair slicked back and having the posture of an obviously military experienced man.

A promising look, to say the least.

“Have a seat, Rogers, wasn’t it?”, Tony prompted him, gesturing at the seat by the desk, himself not sitting on the other end, but on the desk, watching the other man carefully.

“That’s right. I’ve read about the job in paper, sir, I think that I’m qualified enough for this job.”  
His voice was husky, serious, exactly how Tony expected him to sound.

“I’m sure that you are. This job, however, requires a certain level of.. disclosure, Mr Rogers. I’m sure that you’re well aware of who I am?”

“Tony Stark. Of course I do. I’ve never missed an issue of all your magazines, I’m a great fan”.

There was something in his tone that made Tony smile. A fan of his? That was flattering, to say the least. 

“Well, you get to work with me now, try and not get too excited. We're going after something.. well, if we manage to retrieve it, it’s going to make us both filthy rich and set for life.”

“What is it?”  
The blonde leaned closer, eyes shining a bit, peaked interest.

“What’s your actual name?”

“Steve, sir.”

“Well.. Steve..”  
Tony made sure that the blinds were closed, and closed the distance between him and Steve.  
“How much do you know about the Infinity Gauntlet?”

-

A week later, they were sat in Tony’s small plane, eyes shut, waiting impatiently to reach Buenos Aires. From there, they had a rented vehicle to take them to the jungle just outside the city; according to Tony’s notes, their destination was there.

Tony was busy, flicking through his notebook, looking at differents notes and sketches. To a different person, they hardly made any sense, but to Tony, they were everything. Scribbles, drawings, everything there was extremely valuable, and even if Steve went through it, he couldn’t really know what to believe when he saw them. 

“So, what you’re looking for... is this?”

Tony’s thought’s were interrupted, not realising that Steve woke up, approached him and studied his notebook which was open in front of him.

The page that Steve was looking at was a rough sketch of a gauntlet, with a really rushed handwriting detailing the different orbs that seemed to be attached to it.

“Are those... some kind of gems?”

Tony leaned closer, adjusting his suspenders. 

“It seems so. There seemed to be reports of gems attached on the gauntlet. According to legends and various stories from around the world, the ‘Infinity Stones’ granted the wearer of the Gauntlet all kinds of different powers.Time manipulation was one of them, can you imagine, being able to control time and space? Anyway, they’re probably precious stones, which explains the different colours..”

“So, no magical powers?”

“No such thing as magic, no. Still, if I received this information about the whereabouts of the Gauntlet.. it almost certainly implies that others did too. Which is why I hired you”

“I’m sure that you’re just as good with a gun, Mr Stark”, Steve said with an honest nod of his head.

“Oh, I am. But I’m not military.”

“Point taken.”

“You better rest, Rogers. It’s going to be a long couple of days.”

-

Their arrival at the airport was long and tedious, despite the fact that Tony had used his own private plane.   
When they were finally outside, an open car was waiting for them, the driver chatting in Spanish with another colleague. He dropped everything he was doing to welcome them in English, with the strongest accent that Tony has heard from a Spanish speaker in all of his journeys. 

When Steve spoke to him in perfect Spanish, Tony only blinked.

“You didn’t put that into your application, why not?”

Steve smiled as he held the door open for him and then stepped inside the car.

“Didn’t think it was important.”

Tony blinked; the blonde was obviously way more skilled than he initially thought. 

Sometime later, they were in a motel, opening the door and looking at the double bed that was there.

“Right. Someone ignored my phonecall...”

“Leave it, it’s fine. I’ll stay on my side, don’t worry”, Steve reassured him as he left down their bags and went ahead to wash his hands and unpack.

Tony grabbed some water from the jar on the table; it was very much appreciated in that heat, and started mapping their trail straight away.

The plan was to leave before dawn the next morning, and Steve was meant to do a routine check that evening and in the morning, in case they were followed. Tony chose to be very quiet about the identity of who could possibly come after them, but it didn’t make Steve’s job any easier. 

Falling asleep wasn’t easy, not when they were so close to their destination and a discovery that would shake their world. Finding the Infinity Gauntlet, that one legendary artifact that wasn’t meant to exist, was all the excitement that Tony ever needed in his life. He had promised so many people that this was his last adventure, but he knew very well how hard it would be to keep such a promise.

When Steve returned from his patrol, he was asleep on the bed, holding on his notebook like his life depended on it. Which was probably accurate. He walked up to him, not attempting to take it out of his hands and throwing a blanket over the other man, joining him on the other side of the bed.

-

The next morning, Tony woke up a bit too close to Steve, quickly pulling away and hoping that his drooling wasn’t noticeable.   
He got ready, slipping on his gun holsters over his dark blue shirt and brown trousers, taking one of the bags with him. Steve soon joined him with the heavier things and guns, all concealed for now, looking like a proper tourist in his hat.

The driver was outside and waiting for them, handing them the keys and wishing them a good journey. Tony had to remind himself to slip in a few extra notes to his payment, since the car would certainly not be in the best position when they were done.

The ride outside the centre of Buenos Aires was mostly quiet and uneventful, they were mostly chatting and admiring the scenery until they reached a point which made it clear that they had to carry on moving on foot.

Steve was at the front, clearing a path and listening to Tony’s directions. He was so sure that they got lost, he could have sworn they were going around in circles at that point, but the argument stopped once he lost his balance, disappearing into what it seemed to be a really well hidden cave opening.

“Steve!”

Tony had yelled for him, rushing closeby while making sure that he didn’t slip either, sighing in relief when he saw the blonde holding on a piece of vine.

“Hold on there!”

“That’s what I’m doing!”

He looked around; it was too dark to tell how deep the hole was, and he didn’t want to waste their precious light. The location, however, seemed to match their destination.

“I’m going down!”

“What about me?!”

Oh, yeah.

“You have to trust me, I’m going to do something.. ambiguously stupid.”

Probably not what someone would is hanging for his life wants to hear, but he had to have faith in him, climbing back up was impossible. 

The older man took some rope, securing it around a huge rock and then himself, slowly walking towards Steve.

“I’ll hold you and we’re both going down”, he said in a more serious voice, dangling from the edge as he climbed down next to Steve.

“What’s down there? Are you sure that this is the spot?”

Steve’s voice was really calm for someone who was on the verge of death, but Tony didn’t dare to question it, he looked into the face of death way too many times to count himself.

Once he had secured the other, they slowly moved down, placing Steve on the ground and testing the rope for ascension. Hard, but feasible. 

“Right, let’s move on!”

The excitement was getting realer, and as soon as they turned on their flashlights, they could tell that yes, this was definitely the place to be. 

The walls were full with drawings that seemed to have been there for centuries, the most common theme among them being a large figure with what seemed to be a crown on its head.

“I’ve seen this before..”, Tony muttered, taking out his notebook and going through the pages.

“That’s definitely the place, I’m sure! Look at this, Steve!”, he shouted in excitement, gesturing at Steve to come closer.

“You see this? He’s.. they called, well, many names, but Thanos seems to be the most common one”

“And...?”

“He’s the one who owns the Gauntlet, it has to be here, Steve!”

His eyes shined, the light coming from the flashlight emphasising how bright and excited he was to find that gauntlet.

“Let’s go find it, then.”

They kept on walking, descending, passing through narrow paths and always having each other’s backs. They worked together, made quite the team, actually. 

They eventually reached what it seemed to be the end of the cave, the central room of it, in a way.

And there it was, set on a big pillar, almost in ceremonial style.

“The Infinity Gauntlet...”

Tony’s word trailed off, walking slowly towards it with his arms spread.

Steve watched carefully looking around them for any traps, but couldn’t spot any.   
Oh, how good it felt in his hands, finally!

Tony’s fingers trailed the ancient gauntlet, the gems on it shining so brightly, even with the heavy cover of dust on them. Just picking it up seemed like such a careless thing to do, yet he couldn’t stop himself from doing so. His grip tight on it, he finally picked up the gauntlet, not wearing it, expecting the ground to start collapsing and fire coming out of the walls; the usual stuff. None of that happened. Huh.

“That was..too easy”, he admitted. “It doesn’t usually go down like this, there’s gunfight, a pursuit-”

“Sorry to keep you waiting, dear” 

Tony stood still; he would recognise that voice anywhere. When he eventually turned around, she was standing there, a pistol aimed at his face; why was it always the face?!

Behind Whitney Frost, a handful of men were standing, all equipped with their own guns, not looking friendly in the slightest. 

“Hey, I have a lot of questions..?”

“I’m sure that you do, but now’s not the time. Hand over the Gauntlet, Tony, we can catch up later.”

Her face was covered, but Tony was well aware of what she looked like beneath the mask, the question was how she was still alive and how the hell did she manage to follow them.

“This? All this fuss over this? I don’t think so...hey!”

She wasn’t in a good mood, and the shot near Tony’s feet proved it.

Steve immediately aimed his own gun at her, her men doing the same but to him.

They were outnumbered, there was no question about that, and even if Steve was the best shot, there was still no way they could come out of there without getting shot. 

“Steve, don’t..”

“Good call, we don’t want to see bullet holes on that pretty shirt of yours now, would we?”

Her voice was dripping poison, and under her mask there was without a doubt the most sadistic smile. There was no guarantee that she would let them go out unharmed if he handed her the artifact, but his options were limited, and to be honest, he didn’t fancy being shot at and left for dead in a random cave in Argentina.

Steve looked at him and then at their apparent enemies, sighing and lowering his guns. He was hired to protect Tony, even if that meant not engaging in a fight that would cost them way too much. He only hoped that this mysterious woman liked Tony enough to let him live.

“Fine. You can have this. Spoiler alert, if you’re looking for its immense power or whatever.. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this Gauntlet is useless. Doesn’t do a thing”, Tony finally replied as he walked close to her, handing her the Gauntlet which was actually heavier than it looked like.

“See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it? Saved us all the unnecessary shooting.. even though I’d love to have an excuse to shoot you, darling”

Her pistol pressed Tony’s temples but she pulled back soon after, gesturing for her men to follow her outside. 

Luck had a weird way to side with Tony at the randomest of times, and today was not an exception. That was when the belated shaking of the cave started happening, and when the window of opportunity was wide open for both Steve and Tony.

“Now! Out!”, he shouted at Steve.

The men were confused, looking around for the exit, the walls and ground shaking, rocks falling down and taking out a few of them.

Steve ran ahead, clearing the way for Tony, looking behind his back to make sure that he was following closeby - what was he doing?!

Tony ran towards Whitney who was on the ground, grabbing the Gauntlet which was laying next to her. Straight away, Whitney jumped on him, pinning him down, hands around his neck.

“You’re not getting out of here alive, Tony!”

He coughed, his vision going blurry, but the he heard the gunshot and saw Steve jumping in, pushing her off him. It wasn’t a fatal shot, he got her shoulder, but it would definitely be a wound that would slow her down. 

“Come on!”

Tony nodded, getting back thanks to the other’s help, wearing the Gauntlet and running towards the marked exit, avoiding the rocks that were coming down their way hard and fast. 

They could hear the shouting, missed shots behind them, but they were making their way outside the deeper parts of the cave as fast as they could. Whitney would have without a doubt cut their rope down, but she must have left something there to help her and her men up again.

Bingo.

A makeshift ladder was hanging there, and wasting no time, they started climbing, Steve at the front again. As soon as he got up, he turned around, only to see Tony attempting to climb with the Gauntlet on, slipping on the very last step, but Steve managed to catch him, dragging him up.

“Now we’re even. And I know that this suits you, but you might want to take it off now..”

Tony nodded and took the Gauntlet off, wrapping it up and placing it inside one of his bags.

“Is this how you usually do things?”

“Yeah. Exciting, isn’t it?”

Steve wasn’t going to lie, it really was exciting. 

“So, what now?”

“We’re getting the hell out of here, that sounds like a good start, don’t you agree?”

The blonde nodded. A damn good start.

-

They finally had time to breathe only when they got on board Tony’s plane, glad to be leaving Buenos Aires. Truth to be told, he was worried about Whitney’s status, but Tony seemed to be more casual.

“She has more lives than a cat, she’ll be fine. Besides, we left their ladder unattached.”

Once they were secured, he finally had all the time in the world to open the bag where they kept the Gauntlet. His eyes were shining once again; at last, an artifact, an ancient relic of the past was in his touch.

“We make a good team, you know.”

It was true, they really did, and hunting for treasure wasn’t something that Steve ever considered. All it really took was an adventure by legendary Tony Stark’s side to change his “career” path.

“I promised that after this, I would give up this life but.. I get the feeling that I’m only getting started.”  
“Honestly? I couldn’t agree more.”

A pause. A smirk.

They were only getting started.


End file.
